Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday heard the case against three men –
including an ex-Prey Sar prison guard – who stand accused of dealing
drugs, said presiding judge Ker Sakhorn.

Mak Kongkea, 24, was
arrested July 30 in Daun Penh district’s Boeung Keng Kang III commune
as he was handing a man an envelope containing one gram of crystal
methamphetamine, he said.

Kongkea then blew the whistle on his
accomplice Sum Sovath, 37, a former Prey Sar prison guard, from whose
apartment police discovered an additional five grams of the drug hidden
under the mattress. Sovath’s roommate, Voa Dara, an 18-year-old
Vietnamese, was also arrested and charged.

At yesterday’s
hearing, the three alleged drug dealers initially pleading not guilty,
but changed their plea after Ker Sakhorn requested that they tell the
truth. Sum Savuth testified that he had been cheated.

“I
didn’t know about the illegal drug deals, Thy gave me an envelope and I
was supposed to give it to another man for 150,000 riels,” he told the
court yesterday. “I was betrayed.”

But Mak Kongkea testified that Savuth had given him the initial envelope.

“Savuth
told me to bring the envelope with the ice to Boeung Keng Kang III
commune and give it to a man called Thy, who was supposed to pay
US$300. But before he paid the money, I was arrested and Thy fled,” he
said. He added that he had only dealt drugs twice before his arrest.

Presiding Judge Ker Sakhorn said a verdict would be announced on Wednesday.